Forum Spotlight - Gas Safety Certificates and section 21

The members only forum on our website is a great place for landlords to seek advice and share experiences. 

This month, we look at a question posed by a member about a gap in gas safety certificates for one of their rental properties - and whether it will prevent them from serving a section 21 notice. 

The member said the gas safety certificate was missing for the year 2023/4 but they were otherwise fully compliant. 

Another worry they had was whether they should be keeping every certificate – past and present? 

What did other landlords say? 

One member said they were unaware of any landlord who has been penalised retrospectively, however, another member said that the missing certificate could cause problems with the building insurance, although he urged the poster to seek professional advice.

What was our advice? 

Our advice is to make sure your properties have a valid gas safety certificate at all times.  

In the landlord's situation there are a number of scenarios:

1) The landlord had the certificate at start of tenancy but didn't serve it, although they did issue the others - in this case they should be able to regain possession if they give the tenant the original GSC before the notice

2) The landlord did not have the certificate at start of tenancy - in which case they probably can't regain possession.

The last situation, which appears to be the scenario in question: 

3) The landlord did have the original certificate, gave it out, forgot to give another one in the middle, but currently has an active valid certificate and has handed it to the tenant - case law suggests this will be fine and the landlord should be able to argue that this does not impact his ability to serve a section 21 notice.  

In answer to the second part of the question, yes, you should always keep your past certificates for your records.

Warning

It is, however, a criminal offence not to have a gas safety certificate for your rental properties and so you should always make sure you have a valid certificate, or you could be vulnerable to action from the health and safety executive, potentially leading to a fine or even a prison sentence. 

Full guidance and more information

You can find detailed advice on landlords’ gas safety obligations on our guidance page here. 

To read the original forum post, click here. 

If staying on top of all the certificates you need for your properties can be a problem, why not get in touch with Safe2, the NRLA’s one stop shop for all things compliance, where you can organise inspections and certificates at the click of a button. 

If you are looking for more information about what you need in place to apply for a section 21, the NRLA has plenty of information here.